Swab



1962 H. BRILLIANT 3,018,778

SWAB

Filed Feb. 16, 1960 FIG.6

INVENTOR'I HERBERT BRILLIANT WAB Herbert Brilliant, 6612 TorresdaleAve., Philadelphia 35, Pa. Filed Feb. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 9,037 2 Claims.(Cl. 128-269) This invention relates to a dental swab which isespecially adapted for cleaning, drying, anaesthetizing or sterilizingor otherwise treating dental cavities.

One object of the invention is to produce an improved swab of the typeset forth.

One method of carrying out the operations enumerated consists in pickingup a preformed wad, or pellet, of cotton with a pair of tweezers andusing it, in the dry state, or after wetting it with the desiredsolution before applying it to the surface to be treated. This practiceis not wholly satisfactory because maneuvering the pellet in arelatively inaccessible dental cavity requires considerable dexterity.Also, the pellet frequently drops from the tweezers and another one mustbe picked up or the pellet may work loose from the tweezers inside thecavity being treated thus entailing additional work and discomfort. Whenthe pellet is to be used for sterilizing, anaesthetizing, etc., it mustbe dipped in the appropriate solution, and, in such cases, the pelletmay be overcharged, or undercharged and, in either case, even, extendedmanipulation of the pellet by the tweezers does not assure adequatecontact with all of the surfaces and corners of the cavity.

In order to overcome these objections, it has been proposed to produceprefabricated swabs consisting of a pre-treated pellet attached to anapplicator which serves as a handle so that it is merely necessary tomoisten the pellet before applying it to the cavity. This practice isalso not wholly satisfactory because the pellet has a generally firm,rounded and smooth contour so that, even when tapered, the pellet mayand may not, even with prolonged effort, elfectively reach all of thesurfaces to be dried or treated. Furthermore, a wad of cotton shrinkswhen wetted.

It is, therefore, a further object of the invention to produce aprefabricated, medicated or non-medicated swab which will quickly,effectively, and with minimum skill and effort, make thorough contactwith all of the surfaces and corners of a dental cavity to be treated.

A pellet formed of a relatively tightly wound and generally rounded wadof cotton makes contact with a very limited area of the surface to betreated and, therefore, it must be moved in and out and back and forthdextrously and for a relatively long period of time in order to insureadequate contact with the surfaces to be treated without excess fluid orexcess pressure, both of which are undesirable, especially when thesurface to be treated is sensitive.

It is, therefore, a still further object of the invention to produce aswab, the pellet of which, when wetted, will become soft and will bereadily distorted in various directions and thus reach surfaces andcorners which are out of reach of the firm, smooth, rounded surface ofthe cotton pellets of the prior art.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the followingspecification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view showing the first step inmaking a swab embodying my invention, or before the pellet has beenwetted with the desired solution.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows the swab of FIG. 1 expanded as a result of being wettedwith the desired solution.

FIG. 4 shows the swab of FIG. 2 after it has dried and shrunk and isready for use.

State Patent ice FIG. 5 shows the swab of FIG. 3, and its applicator,bent at an angle to facilitate access to all of the surfaces of remotecavities.

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 2 showing a fiat pellet.

FIG. 7 graphically illustrates the application of the swabs of FIGS. 3and 4 to cavities in different sides of a tooth.

A swab embodying my invention includes an applicator 10 which may bethin and slightly flexible so as to bend somewhat, and may be made ofwood, or metal, or of a synthetic material, such as methyl methacrylate,or the like. If desired, applicator 10 may be made of form retainingmaterial such as soft metal, or it may be molded to the form shown inFIG. 5, or other configuration.

According to my invention, pellet 12 should be made of a material whichexpands when it is wet and becomes soft so as to yield and becomedistorted under light pressure, either to fill or to reach all surfacesof a cavity, or to provide a larger wiping surface and to provide moreintimate contact with the surface to be dried or treated.

To this end I found that a sliver of natural sponge or of sponge rubber,will constitute a satisfactory pellet in that, when wetted, the materialbecomes very soft and expands considerably, but, according to myinvention, the pellet may be made of any other natural, or syntheticmaterial having these characteristics.

To make the pellet of my invention, I cut a sliver of sponge, etc. to arelatively large size as shown-in FIG. 1, and I wet it with the desiredsolution, whereupon the pellet expands as diagrammatically illustratedin FIG. 2. The pellet is then dried under pressure, or under heat andpressure, so as to compress it to the size shown in FIG. 4 which issmaller than the size of the pellet before it is wetted, as in FIG. 1,and much smaller than the size the pellet will assume when it is wet, asshown in FIG. 3. When no medication is required, the pellet will bewetted with water or other neutral fluid and compressed and dried. Whenmedication is desired, the pellet of FIG. 1 is dipped in the desiredantiseptic or other solution and compressed. It will be noted that,during the drying process, the amount of medication retained in thepellet is controlled so that, when the pellet is wetted for, or duringuse, the medication will be of the desired strength. When it is to beused, the pellet is moistened and inserted into the cavity or it may beinserted in the dry state so as to be moistened with the fluid availablein the cavity. Since antiseptic solutions are well known, it is thoughtunnecessary to specify any particular solution except to say that phenolor creosote will do. In use, the relatively thin pellet of FIG. 4 isinserted dry or is wetted and inserted into a cavity, as shown, forexample in FIG. 7. The pellet immediately expands and becomes soft sothat, by manipulation of the applicator, the body of the pellet will,under very little pressure, become distorted and will flow or creep intocorners and crevices which cannot be reached by the conventional cottonpellet now in use.

When a dental cavity is filled with amalgam, it is necessary to smooththe exposed surfaces and it is necessary to remove excess mercury which,if not removed, will weaken the filling. According to my invention, thepellet is impregnated with powdered or dissolved tin or other compoundwhich reacts with mercury so that, by passing the pellet over theexposed surfaces of the filling, the superficial outer layer of theamalgam will be smoothed out and excess mercury will be removed bycombining with the tin.

What I claim is:

1. A dental swab for use in treating dental cavities, said swabincluding an applicator and a pellet of a predetermined dry-state sizesecured to one end of said applicator, said pellet being made of aresilient, porous and References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 819,901 Maschal May 8, 1906 2,218,738 Boysen Oct. 22,1940 2,922,423 Rickard et a1. Jan. 26, 1960

1. A DENTAL SWAB FOR USE IN TREATING DENTAL CAVITIES, SAID SWABINCLUDING AN APPLICATOR AND A PELLET OF A PREDETERMINED DRY-STATE SIZESECURED TO ONE END OF SAID APPLICATOR, SAID PELLET BEING MADE OF ARESILIENT, POROUS AND ABSORBENT MATERIAL WHICH, WHEN WETTED, BECOMESSOFT AND EXPANDS CONSIDERABLY BEYOND SAID DRY-STATE SIZE, SAID PELLETBEING IMPREGNATED WITH A METALLIC COMPONENT WHICH REACTS WITH MERCURYWHEREBY, WHEN MERCURY IS APPLIED TO SAID PELLET, AN AMALGAM IS FORMED.